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Monday, June 18, 2018

Popsugar Fitness Two-Week Video Workout Challenge

After taking a brief hiatus from scheduled workouts and enjoying a bunch of family fun, I was ready to get back to regular workouts. I was in the mood for something different, so I challenged myself to follow the Popsugar Fitness 2-Week Video Workout Plan.

For 14 days, I did a variety of 30 minute workouts that mixed cardio, strength, Pilates and yoga. One day a week was dedicated to active rest with stretching and foam rolling.

Here's the plan and my thoughts on each workout:

Day 1: Cardio workout (burned 335 calories). This was a fun video with a blend of cardio and strength circuits to keep things interesting. Each circuit takes about 5 minutes to get through 4 moves and you do each circuit twice. A couple of minutes of stretching is included at the end.

Day 2: Cardio Pilates workout (burned 268 calories) Mix of cardio and Pilates with weights that really worked my abs. After a cardio warm-up, the exercise sequence targets legs, arms, and abs...spending about 20-30 seconds on each move.

Day 3: Power Yoga Flow (burned 154 calories) Perfectly timed full body yoga to stretch things out that were feeling very sore. A typical yoga flow, the workout stretches and tones at the same time.

Day 4:Active Rest with Foam Roller (burned 65 calories) Full disclosure, this was a pretty painful session, but another well timed activity. The must-do foam rolling moves provided probably made this the best foam rolling session I've ever done, especially because I actually timed myself.

Day 5: Tabata Workout (297 calories) I love this form of HIIT that alternates between 20 seconds work and 10 seconds rest in four minute rounds. Just when you think you can't go any longer, you get a quick break. Another bonus to this workout was the instructor ---> great energy and super funny!

Day 6: Strong, Toned and Full-body workout (253 calories) Another circuit training session, but this time with weighted moves added in. I like the mix of exercises in circuit workouts.

Day 7: Active Rest with Stretching (95 calories) I did both the 10 minute video and the ultimate stretching guide (see it here) ---> 28 different stretches. My body was grateful for this head to toe love-fest.

Day 8: Cardio Boxing & Core (308 calories) This was my first try at cardio boxing and I didn't love it, but was pleasantly surprised to see the calories I burned. Obviously no experience necessary to get a good workout, even one that feels a little awkward.

Day 9: Pilates workout (196 calories) This should have been called Speed Pilates! The pace was hard to keep up with at times, so I focused on going at my own speed. Some of the moves were killer, but the instructor kept things fun and lively.

Day 10: Feel-Good, Feel-Strong Yoga (186 calories) easy to follow flow that hit all my favorite poses. I liked how the instructor grouped poses together and tossed in a couple challenges ---> like side plank with leg raise!

Day 11: Active Rest with Foam Roller (did not track) This was the same as the previous foam rolling day but it didn't hurt as bad. That's a clear reminder that the more you roll, the happier your muscles are.

Day 13: Total Body Toning (262 calories) This workout had a fun mix of moves that focused on legs, cardio, arms, and abs. Each move was demonstrated in modified version first and then the advanced options were shown.

Day 14: Active Rest with 10 Minute Stretching (74 calories) Easy 10 minute stretching routine that hits all the important areas. It's a nice option to always doing the same stretches from memory and some of the stretching variations were new to me.

So, what did I think?

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have already seen the answer ---> I LOVED following this two week workout plan. It was a great way to get away from repeating the same workouts day after day, which I am known to do. The mix of cardio, strength, yoga, Pilates, and rest days felt really good on my body too.

30 minute workouts really are manageable and effective. It was apparent right away that I was getting good workouts because I was sore! On the days that I missed my morning workout, knowing that it would be 30 minutes made it easier for me to get myself moving to do the workout in the afternoon or evening.

In addition to the 30 minute video workout, many of the days I also walked (usually 2 miles) or swam laps. I LOVED that I could do the video workouts at home, especially since we were having a lot of rainy days during the two weeks, but I also love to get outside.

I would definitely do it again.

PS: To make it easier, I created a playlist of the videos on YouTube here. There is also a direct link to the Popsugar Fitness plan there.

Have you ever followed a free online workout plan?
Do you like workout videos?

What a great way to move every day. I agree with Deborah^^ about the guided foam roller sessions. I'm not good about foam rolling and following a routine would force me to do it! Thanks for sharing this.

This sounds like a great mix of workouts, foam rolling and stretching. I've very impressed the plan includes those last two things! Also, 30 minutes is very doable for most everyone. I'm going to look into this! Thanks for reviewing and linking!

I was that way too and honestly don't know if I would've tried this if I was still running like I used to. It could work for runners if you skip the cardio (run instead) and just did strength and active rest days. Maybe? haha

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Welcome!

Hi! I’m Amy, a fitness blogger and Certified Coach for FASTer Way to Fat Loss living in Hawaii. I used to run, but then I had knee surgery. Now I'm running through life one fitness adventure at a time! Follow me on my adventures in fitness, nutrition and anything else that sounds fun!